Sculpture (Sculpture)

Drowned Wood Standing Coiled (2011) consists of two sculptures, inextricably linked. In each, pieces of driftwood are bundled together vertically and entwined with rope, which cascades to the floor in a tightly wound coil. Placed side by side on the ground, these sculptures anthropomorphize into partners who are literally and figuratively bound.

Painting (Painting)

In mathematics, the so-called geometric problems of antiquity are shapes that elude the classical tools of an unmarked straightedge and compass. In Geometric Construction of Antiquity, 6 (2011), Badger doggedly sets out to represent one such form. Each of six circles grazes its opposite and crosses the other five.

Sculpture (Sculpture)

Curtis Talwst Santiago has been creating intimate and performative environments within these small spaces for several years; the artist used to carry them around to show visitors one on one, opening up a scene in the space of his hand. Santiago considers these mobile box enclosures a method of transporting narratives of home and intimacy, diasporic identity, and experiences most often hidden or concealed from view. These Walls is a sculptural piece made from a reclaimed jewelry box, clay, paint, wool, plastic figurines, and human hair.

Textile (Textile)

Designed by the artist and fabricated in collaboration with Kashmiri artisans in India, Baseera Khan’s Psychedelic Prayer Rugs combine visual iconography traditional to Islam, such as the crescent moon and lunar calendar, with brightly coloured symbols of personal significance to the artist: a pair of embroidered sneakers, a fragment of an Urdu poem, and the Purple Heart medal. Visually seductive yet charged with political and symbolic associations, the rugs bridge elements of American popular culture with aspects of Islamic worship that may be misunderstood in contemporary secular contexts. Encouraged by Khan to take their shoes off and interact with the rugs, viewers participate in a decolonizing process as they meditate on their poetic allusions or perform the traditional salat, the daily prayers that constitute one of the five pillars of Islam, the others being faith, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca.

Textile (Textile)

Out of simple materials, Alicia Henry creates enigmatic, somewhat troubled characters, which reveal her interest in the complexities and the contradictions surrounding familial relationships. The artist probes societal differences and how these variations affect individual and group responses to themes of beauty, the body, and broader issues of identity. Untitled explores these themes and addresses the processes through which women navigate such issues.

Photography (Photography)

The photographic series Tonatiuh (The Son of the Sun) by Juan Brenner is an in-depth visual study of current Guatemalan society from the perspective of miscegenation and the incalculable consequences of the Spanish conquest. Establishing Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado as a central figure, not only in the conquest of Guatemala, but also in the formation of a complex, segregated society, Brenner proposes a series of images that re-establish the lens through which to consider both a historical and contemporary Guatemala. Tonatiuh is a visual essay on the state of a country on the verge of failure and its incapacity to address its own history and learn from it.

Installation (Installation)

Lifesize Draft is the second of two sculptures on a similar theme, the first one being Utopia Battery, (2008). The latter is also in an edition of 3, one of which is in the collection of the Ludwig Muzeum, Budapest. Although Lifesize Draft was made after Utopia Battery, Kisspal conceived it more or less at the same time and sees the two works as closely related.

Sculpture (Sculpture)

Gastaldon has made a number of soft sculptures using materials associated with knitting and sewing that have alternately fetishistic, nightmarish or contemplative qualities. “Floating Mountain” is one of a group of works made from wool that overtly depict mountain forms. Suspended from the ceiling, the sculpture floats just above the floor.

Film & Video (Film & Video)

La Ruta by Natalia Lassalle-Morillo follows the Panoramic Route, a now weakened infrastructure that meanders through untouched natural landscapes and off-road destinations on the island of Puerto Rico. The Panoramic Route was designed for residents and tourists to connect with the traditional center of the island, as part of a political agenda to modernize the country through infrastructure and social programs. Today, the highway is notorious for dismal road conditions, resulting in isolation between more densely populated metropolitan areas and contributing to a loss of cultural sites and practices that once took place along the Route.

Film & Video (Film & Video)

Dreaming of the dream of the dream is a 16mm projection consisting of images of waves that come and go continuously. The artist has assembled extracts of cartoons in which water is visible (the sea, bubbles, a stream, waves, etc.). Somewhat nostalgic, these extracts can recall either childhood cartoons or paintings by Hokusai.

Sculpture (Sculpture)

Defunct Mnemonics (2012) plays off woodworking traditions found in indigenous art in order to create a body of formally minimal objects that are both beautiful in their restraint and profoundly moving in their associations with the totemic. Resembling large pick-up-sticks, the complete work is comprised of 126 vertical sculptures wrapped in fabric with alternately monochromatic and graphically patterned dyes and prints. Leaning against a wall and arranged side-by-side, they could be mistaken as highly decorated mallets for use in an undetermined ritual or game.